Urbo Bankas, a Lithuanian capital bank that changed its name this year, earned a net profit of EUR 4.4 million in the first half of the year. In the first six months of the year, the Bank’s loan portfolio grew by 6.1% to EUR 336.8 million, while deposit volumes increased by 5.69% to EUR 495 million.

“Despite continued uncertainty about the geopolitical and economic situation, we have managed to maintain stable growth rates for loans and deposits. This was supported by active financing of investment projects carried out by small and medium-sized enterprises, attractive terms and conditions for providing credit and other financial services to businesses and individuals,” says Marius Arlauskas, Head of Administration of Urbo Bankas.

While the volume of financial activities increased, the Bank’s profit contracted slightly over the comparative period. According to Mr. Arlauskas, the lower profit was due to investments in improving the quality of services by relocating the head office to new, modern premises in the central business district of Vilnius, changing the Bank’s name and identity, and solutions to make the Bank’s network more efficient.

“All these changes will, I have no doubt, give impetus to the Bank’s further sustainable growth. Especially as we are witnessing a growing demand for finance from both businesses and individuals, driven by recently increasingly positive expectations for the future among consumers and businesses. In response to our customers’ needs, we are actively offering new financing instruments – in the first half of the year, we introduced a standardised version of fixed-rate mortgage loans, as well as a refinancing solution for fixed-rate mortgages, which has no analogue in the market. We are also actively competing in the consumer credit market for individuals,” notes the Head of Administration of the Bank.

Compared to January–June 2023, net interest income of Urbo Bankas increased by 13.7% to EUR 11.1 million in the first half of this year. As a result of the optimisation of the Bank’s network and continued focus on core activities, net fee and commission income decreased by 31% to EUR 1.9 million. The net result from foreign currency transactions decreased by 32.7% to EUR 1.2 million due to the contraction of the net foreign exchange market in Lithuania.

At the end of the second quarter, the assets of Urbo Bankas amounted to EUR 582.7 million, or 29.3% more than a year ago (EUR 450.6 million). The Bank’s shareholders’ equity increased by 14.9% to EUR 60.6 million at 30 June this year (EUR 52.8 million at 30 June 2023).

At the end of June, the customer service network of Urbo Bankas consisted of 26 territorial branches. The Bank has a total of 281 employees.